Retire 542

542 (Hunter Academy Side Story 9) Additional Personnel_1

“All right. So, we’re settled on leaving Lehmann to this Hunter, then? I know Alex wants to be the one to finish him off, but I was wondering how he’d manage it alone… If this Hunter’s involved, I can rest easy.”

“Have you actually come to an agreement with the Hunter in question?”

“And since we have too many teachers at the school right now, we could send Teacher Han as an extra. From what I saw in America, Teacher Han actually works surprisingly well with Alex.”

“This is the first I’m hearing of it!!”

“That’s just how the world works.”

Han Tae-kyung pouted and glared at Woo Hee-jae, but Woo Hee-jae didn’t pay him any mind, and Kim Chae-min just covered his mouth, laughing.

Kim Chae-min, still giggling, asked in a teasing tone,

“If you don’t like it, just stay here.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll just get bored.”

“……”

Unable to deny it, Han Tae-kyung turned away, pretending not to care. Hunters really are all the same.

He tried making eye contact with the other Hunters in the principal’s office, but they both pretended not to notice, acting all dignified. He considered teasing them further, but let it go.

Instead, Woo Hee-jae, perhaps to redirect Kim Chae-min’s attention, latched onto Han Tae-kyung.

“It’s not like we’re asking you to go into a dungeon.”

“I just don’t want to work!”

“Would you rather go into a dungeon?”

“……”

Apparently, he didn’t want to go into a dungeon either, so Han Tae-kyung clammed up. In the past, he would have stubbornly insisted that dungeons were no big deal, but now, seeing him openly show his dislike, it was both amusing and a little pitiful.

Still, running off and leaving everyone else to work is unforgivable. Kim Chae-min just smiled brightly and let Woo Hee-jae have his way.

Woo Hee-jae might have been giving Han Tae-kyung a hard time, but it was true that nothing had been discussed with Lee Mi-seon. Lehmann was Association business, but whether Korea’s representative, Lee Mi-seon, would actively get involved in the Lehmann investigation was another matter. There was justification, since it wasn’t entirely unrelated to Korea, but who knew if she was actually willing to step in.

And whether Lee Mi-seon was prepared to handle the combination of Han Tae-kyung and Alex Hope. Still, Hope seemed highly motivated about the Lehmann affair, so maybe he’d approach it seriously instead of his old reckless ways. Maybe.

Kim Chae-min finally pointed out to Woo Hee-jae, who’d managed to get Han Tae-kyung to say, “I’ll take care of the juniors,”

“This Hunter shouldn’t be a problem.”

But Woo Hee-jae, despite Chae-min’s concern, didn’t seem worried.

“Really?”

“I’ll tell you how to persuade them later.”

“Me?”

“If I or Teacher Hong bring it up, they’ll be on guard from the start.”

“You should’ve just passed the job off in the first place.”

“……”

Woo Hee-jae cleared his throat, then offered a feeble excuse.

“Henry Lehmann isn’t someone you can catch in a day or two. Honestly, we’re not the kind of Hunters who are cut out for that kind of investigation…”

“Just Lehmann?”

“…Everyone has their area of expertise. You have to assign people where they fit best for efficiency.”

“This Hunter is still a Hunter publicly, right? Runs a guild? Goes on dungeon raids regularly?”

“But they’re closer to an investigative agency than we are, aren’t they?”

Thinking of how Hong Seok-young had been tracking the Ark for years, that wasn’t exactly true, but he let it slide. After all, Guild Mimi wasn’t an investigative agency. If you said they had a foot in education, you wouldn’t be wrong.

A Hunter guild’s duty is to clear dungeons or hunt monsters.

Kim Chae-min shrugged. It wasn’t like he was going to do the work himself, so there was no point nitpicking. It was much better to just do as Woo Hee-jae said and focus on persuading Lee Mi-seon.

“Oh, Hee-jae. Did you say you found a dungeon for the kids to go into?”

At the mention of a raid, Hong Seok-young, who’d been quiet until now, joined in.

“Two. One will be for the midterm, and the other will be for practice.”

“And you’re taking Abel in this time too, right?”

“He won’t be part of the raid. It’s just to get him used to monsters.”

It was about the students, not a guild raid, but with this guild, if you let your guard down even a little, the meeting would always end up being about the kids.

Makes you think maybe it really is an educational institution after all? Even though they’re always saying the guild and the Academy are different.

Kim Chae-min shook his head, watching Woo Hee-jae fret over first-year Abel’s first dungeon. He’d always said he was on the support team, not the raid team, but these days he seemed to be enjoying the work. It was impressive that he’d managed to go into dungeons quietly in America without a word of complaint.

Well, it’s not like he was a big fan of dungeon raids himself. Kim Chae-min propped his chin on his hand and watched the others with a bored expression. His sense of responsibility as an archmage and his desire for revenge against the Ark were what motivated him, but his real passion was magical research. There was also his life’s work, the Rose of Grandfather.

But that didn’t mean he neglected dungeon raids like the European mages. If his magic was effective in dungeons, there was no way his pride as an archmage would let him run away from what needed to be done.

And whether it’s an investigative agency or an educational institution, as long as you bear the title of Hunter Guild, dungeon raids remain your primary duty.

Ding.

Kim Chae-min checked his phone at the soft notification. A message had arrived from a student who’d graduated just before spring.

[Teacher, we finished cleaning out Seo-hyun’s grandfather’s warehouse.]

[Well, not completely.]

[We did as much as we could for now.]

[There’s a lot of expensive-looking stuff, but I don’t know what to do with it.]

[Can you help, pleaseㅠㅠ]

[Seo-hyun said it’s fine.]

[And we found Seo-hyun’s grandfather’s dungeon log? Should we bring it?]

[If we want to figure out how to use the guide magic—]

The dungeon log of Archmage Park No-gyeong?

Of course that’s needed!

[It seemed like it’d be helpful to reference the log.]

Unlike their friends who went to college or became junior Hunters at Daseon, Park Seo-hyun and Choi Jin-woo had decided to stay at the school. They were less interested in dungeons than the other graduates, and the rune analysis project they’d worked on with Sandra just before graduation had suited them surprisingly well.

For Kim Chae-min and Woo Hee-jae, this was a welcome development. Jin-woo was learning guide magic, and that spell couldn’t be completed without Seo-hyun’s help. If they had Park No-gyeong’s guide magic, they might finally be able to locate the core of the Mont Saint-Michel dungeon, which was still missing…

Kim Chae-min frowned.

“Let’s talk about the kids later.”

Sensing the archmage’s mood souring, the others looked at him in confusion.

Kim Chae-min folded his arms.

Of course, they’d discussed this matter, sometimes hastily, sometimes seriously, several times before. And Kim Chae-min agreed with the general consensus.

That they wouldn’t attempt to conquer Mont Saint-Michel.

But was it really all right to leave something that dangerous alone?

No, logically, it made sense to leave it be. Kim Chae-min knew that. The one who couldn’t be satisfied with just dreaming of dragging monsters out of the dungeon was Noah Michel. Without Michel, the fairy of Mont Saint-Michel had lost its link to the outside. No matter how sinister or powerful the monster, if it couldn’t find a way out of the dungeon, there was nothing to be done.

But it’s that fairy.

A monster whose age is unknown. Having witnessed the sweet illusions and despair that Noah Michel experienced, there was no guarantee that lunatic would just stay quietly in the dungeon.

“So…”

The moment Mont Saint-Michel was mentioned, Hong Seok-young immediately realized what Kim Chae-min was getting at. But he didn’t interrupt.

“Shouldn’t we try to clear Mont Saint-Michel?”

“I understand how you feel, Teacher Kim.”

No sooner had Kim Chae-min finished speaking than Hong Seok-young replied.

“How do you expect to clear a place that even my future self, twenty years from now, gave up on?”

“……”

“We still can’t be sure what’s in there. Us going in alone is out of the question. Hee-jae, do you know how many made it out alive when I failed to clear it?”

“Well… It’s classified, so I don’t know the exact numbers, but I understand the survival rate wasn’t high.”

Hong Seok-young spoke in a gentle, coaxing tone, like a parent trying to distract a child from the toy aisle.

“I’m not saying we should just leave it alone. Now that everything else is mostly wrapped up, we can focus on it. Isn’t that why we’re bringing in Seo-hyun and Jin-woo?”

“……”

“If we can find a way to destroy the core without touching it, it’s our win. There’s no need to go in just to lose.”

I know.

I know that if we wait, we can win.

If there’s truly no way to interfere with the dungeon or the core from the outside, that’s one thing. But Kim Chae-min had tasted that possibility. He couldn’t be sure when, but if it was possible, he’d spend decades searching for it.

Something in Hong Seok-young’s tone reminded him of his grandfather. Even knowing he was being childish, Kim Chae-min puffed out his cheeks and muttered sullenly.

“But still, you never know…”

“What do you mean?”

“…That there won’t be another mage like Noah Michel.”

There were no fanatics or disciples of Michel who could be called zealots, like the future Noah Michel Woo Hee-jae had mentioned. But they’d already met at least one mage unhinged enough to “change bodies.” How could they be sure there weren’t others like Sam Bloom?

European mage society is a mess. Even now, there are mages throwing themselves at Mont Saint-Michel like moths to a flame. Just last year, a guild that snuck in was wiped out, and warnings went around.

Even with the influence of Hong Seok-young and the archmage, there were limits to interfering in another country’s dungeon.

“Henry Lehmann, too. He may not be a Michel sympathizer, but calling him human is a stretch. We can’t let our guard down.”

“That’s why Alex and Han Tae-kyung are going after Lehmann, isn’t it?”

“……”

Hong Seok-young had no intention of backing down. Kim Chae-min recognized the determination in his gentle, grandfatherly voice.

“I know. I understand. It’s only natural to worry, not knowing how many people Michel has entranced. It would be strange not to be concerned.”

“Ugh…”

“I’m not saying we should let our guard down. I’m not saying we should shove it out of sight and forget about it. We’ll keep watching. We’ll keep monitoring. That’s why Hee-jae and I are trying to build ties with the Marseille guilds.”

“Teacher Kim is keeping an eye on the magic society, too. Normally, you’d have cut ties ages ago, saying it was a hassle.”

“…I’m not that much of a hermit.”

“You know what I mean.”

Kim Chae-min pouted, then nodded.

“But if it doesn’t work out?”

“Is there anything our Teacher Kim can’t do?”

“Archmages aren’t omnipotent!”

“Well, no need to overthink it.”

Hong Seok-young clapped Kim Chae-min on the shoulder. He probably meant it gently, but a Hunter’s touch was a bit rough for a mage.

“If we find a way to close the core remotely, we win. If the thing can’t stand it and bursts out of the dungeon, we win. If all else fails…”

“…If?”

“If all else fails, we’ll just bring in every Hunter in the world and clear it.”

“No, that already failed, remember?”

“All the Hunters in the world, Hee-jae! No matter how strong it is, nothing can withstand sheer numbers!”

But that’s our guild master for you. Unable to shake his unease, Kim Chae-min burst out laughing.